


fever to tell

by IrisParry



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: (sort of), Inappropriate Use of the Force, M/M, Voyeurism, dubiously consensual use of the Force - see notes, hux vs emotional intimacy, the saga continues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-13 23:05:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9146077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IrisParry/pseuds/IrisParry
Summary: Hux was waving the thought like an obscene placard, and when Kylo latched onto it he made a low sound, half surprise and half pleasure, grip tightening around Kylo's wrist.It was crude, but appealing nonetheless, and it rose up on a seething mass of images and emotions that Hux hadn't a hope of concealing now. Kylo took a deep breath, centring himself, resisting the temptation to just take andtake.Hux thinks he understands what Kylo Ren wants from him. So does Kylo Ren.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote the first half of this fic in a flurry at the end of SEPTEMBER, but then life and health and other impatient WIPs intervened. Thanks to [mak](http://bygoneboy.tumblr.com) for reading that first half and assuring me it didn't suck, and to my long-suffering followers for listening to me go on about this. I finished this in large part to spite 2016 - at 23:43 on NYE.
> 
> Hux's emotional boundaries are a major theme of this fic and Kylo's mental powers push them very strongly, in a sexual situation. Please see end notes for more detail about the dub-con element, or feel free to come ask me questions at my [tumblr,](http://irisparry.tumblr.com) to help you decide if this is the right fic for you.

Kylo had never asked permission. It hadn't occurred to him, let alone the possibility that it might be granted so freely. Offered. He'd wanted to get into Hux's mind from the first time he crashed up against its iron gates, of course.  He knew he couldn’t kick them down without causing irreparable damage, damage to the Order and the Supreme Leader's plans, but there were other ways, sly and unobtrusive, following the natural openings, weak spots, when someone's guard was down. Hux's guard was never down. Kylo tried him often, ghosting over the surface of his mind, the immediate banalities of whatever task he was undertaking; seeking the soft places, where he might gather like rainwater, seep inside.

If Hux noticed Kylo's efforts, or his frustrations, he didn't show it. Sometimes he would twitch minutely, as if to clear a ringing in his ear, and Kylo knew it was time to retreat. Once, Kylo had hung over Hux like a stormcloud for the better part of a shift, letting the pressure build, too high, and watched a red flush creep up Hux’s neck to his ears. The barest frown had crossed his face, tiny crease between the brows, then he'd simply locked down harder than ever, jaw set and face impassive as he stared out of the viewport. 

He had never asked permission, because Hux would obviously deny it. Anyone would deny it. Kylo himself would have, had it not been necessary for his training. The mind was not a discrete object, sitting neatly in the skull: it flowed through the body in the Force, anchored and shaped by it, by the things you did and felt. The mind - the word was inadequate, almost. It was the self, the whole of you, and to have all of that exposed, to have someone rifle through it, was repugnant. 

Hux didn't understand. The Force was one of the few things he didn't, and Kylo couldn't deny that pleased him. If Hux had understood, he never would have -

Kylo couldn’t leave it alone. He grew indelicate, but still he didn’t stop. Seeing Hux, he felt like a sullen animal, straining at its chain and gnashing its teeth uselessly. Hux began to flinch from it, look up and around for the source of - of whatever the feeling was to him. Kylo didn’t know, couldn’t tell. He tried when they were apart, during the night cycle when Hux was sleeping, succeeded only in filling his own dreams with the twisted sneer of Hux’s lips, the way his skin reddened in hot blotches when Kylo reached for him too hungrily, pushed almost too far. The mornings when he woke up hard were the worst, humiliating and confounding, like Hux had somehow passed Kylo’s own defences, wormed his way inside, made Kylo’s body betray him. He had discipline enough yet to ignore it, to keep his hands off himself until the feeling subsided. 

 

 

When Kylo came to him that night, answered his cryptic summons, he'd found Hux waiting and restless. Still in uniform, he paced before the viewport in his quarters. Stepping over the threshold had been fresh agony: a border crossing, a new intimacy, but still so far from what Kylo wanted. 

The room wasn't a mess, exactly, because Hux was still a military officer after all, but its order was frayed at the edges: a half-empty cup forgotten next to the low couch, a stack of flimsi splayed across the surface of the desk. An ashtray, of all things, half full on the side next to a bottle of an amber liquid (half empty). Things Hux hadn't thought notable enough to clear up before Kylo's arrival, because he lived like that, here. Kylo clenched his teeth, hidden behind the mask, trying to assimilate the new information. His idea of the inside of Hux's mind was less clear than ever, and all the careless little hints of Hux’s inner life seemed to taunt him.

Hux turned and just looked at Kylo for a moment, hands clasped behind his back, expectant. Ah, yes. Hux considered the helmet rude, when one was in conference with an individual of more or less equal rank. Hux could wall himself in against Kylo, but Kylo must show himself. Of course. Kylo prickled with frustration. He considered feigning ignorance, making Hux ask, but he didn't need to use the Force to feel something was delicate about this situation. Better to play along, for now.

Kylo placed the mask on the desk with a dull thud, rested a palm on it. Hux's shoulders relaxed a little; his jaw shifted, ever so slightly. He looked very pale against the starfield, his hair very bright. 

"You can't read my mind," Hux began, without preamble. It was a simple statement of fact, and Kylo bristled more than if it had been an order.

"I don't read your mind," he said, neither confirming nor denying.

"Because you can't," Hux continued in the same infuriatingly mild tone, as if he was reporting the findings of a fairly dull scouting mission. "Because I won't let you."

Kylo's fingers flexed on top of the mask, curling into a fist. Hux's eyes flicked to it, and his mouth twitched at the corners. 

"But you want to."

Kylo was crossing the floor to Hux before he could think, leaving the mask behind. Hux backed up, as he should have, but there was nothing frightened or frantic about it. He matched Kylo’s strides. Something was radiating out from him, too strong for Hux to keep in but still no more than high static by the time it reached Kylo, though he was so close, so close. Hux's mouth fell open when his back hit the wall, and Kylo stopped short of crowding him against it - he'd already made such mistakes, coming here like he was at the man's beck and call, unmasking for him, losing his composure like this.  

"You want to," Hux was saying, nostrils flaring, "You try, I know you do."

Kylo slammed his palm against the durasteel to the left of Hux's head. Hux’s feelings were a shower of sparks, charged and bright for dazzling seconds, burning away before Kylo could feel them land. Hux shouldn't know. Kylo shouldn't have kept pushing. But he wanted to, wanted to there and then. Hux still baited him, spoke to him like he was a child. Such contempt, when he was this close, close enough to reach out and - Hux knew nothing of the Force, less than nothing. Sneered at it. He would see - 

"You can't break me like you do the prisoners," Hux said, eyes glittering. "You know he wouldn't allow it. So you try to creep your way in."

Hux was expecting the slam of Kylo's other hand, boxing him in, didn't even flinch. A vicious smile slashed his face. 

"I feel it," Hux hissed, “When you grope at me. You can’t help yourself, can you?"

"You understand nothing," Kylo choked out, and he had to stop, but he'd already gone too far, given away too much. 

"I understand my mind's not all you want," Hux said, and grabbed two fistfuls of Kylo's robe, drew him in to close the distance between them. Hux kissed him, his lips soft but demanding, dragged him under a wave of greed and lust that was suddenly clearer than ever. 

Hux understood something, then, because it was so close to how Kylo wanted him. Hux's guard was never down, but like this it was shifting, shaping itself to make room, and he could almost see where it might give. Kylo bent at his elbows to lean closer, chased the subtler notes of Hux’s rage and frustration even as they ebbed away. 

"Ah," Hux admonished him breathily, pulling away as he felt Kylo start to push at his mind. He eased him back with a palm at his chest, not too far, just enough that when he pulled one of Kylo's hands down from the wall he could turn it palm up between them. He tugged at the fingers of the glove, one by one until he could peel the whole thing off. There was a moment of hesitation, Kylo's bare hand cradled in Hux's, and it was all Kylo could do not to pounce at it, that doubt or fear or whatever in hell it was, sink his teeth in and taste it, know it for what it truly was.

Hux raised Kylo's hand to his temple

"Here," he said, his tongue darting out over his lips. "Take a look."

Kylo surged forward, Hux’s triumphant laugh muted beneath the rising white noise of his mind. He spread his legs to let Kylo closer, and for a moment they were pressed together like that, still and breathing against one another, on the cusp of something. 

Kylo closed his eyes, focused. He would still need to be careful. He could do such damage. Permission was no protection. What you let in might not be so easily shut out. Then you had no choice but to let it ruin you.

Hux pushed into Kylo’s hand, rocked his hips against him. “Come on,” he said, low and smug. “Put your back into it.” 

Kylo reached, slow and tentative, and then ... at some point, it was just done. 

There was no threshold, no moment of faltering resistance, of breaking. It was like walking into a wild, unfenced forest, trees and undergrowth thickening, until suddenly you saw the sun was dim above you, felt brambles tug at your clothes. Strained to hear furtive, unfamiliar sounds in the echoing quiet. You were deep in another territory. 

Hux was waving the thought like an obscene placard, and when Kylo latched onto it he made a low sound, half surprise and half pleasure, grip tightening around Kylo's wrist.It was crude, but appealing nonetheless, and it rose up on a seething mass of images and emotions that Hux hadn't a hope of concealing now. Kylo took a deep breath, centring himself, resisting the temptation to just take and  _ take _ . He could feel Hux relax into it, letting the sensation thrum through him, aligning with it. 

It felt good, he realised, to Hux - Kylo's presence a crackling energy, a rawness that almost hurt, would have if Hux had resisted. But Hux wanted it, had invited it in, and now he grabbed at it, trying to rub up against the feeling like he did Kylo's body but he couldn't tell what to do, couldn't reach out to the Force. Kylo took pity on him and pressed forward, hips, shoulders and then the Force when Hux was quivering for it. 

"Kriff," Hux let out, Kylo's palm still held to his cheek, and Kylo felt his flush from the inside and out, the heat of his skin and the burn of his desire. His eyes were heavy-lidded and he watched Kylo's face, calling up his images again. The organisation and carefully highlighted snapshots were breaking down so, so easily, especially when he mistook Kylo's gasp for a simple, base response to the fantasy. It was beautiful. So much there, blooming into colour as Hux's arousal lit up his mind, and all Kylo had to do was look, look and keep Hux panting for more. 

In Hux's mind, his palm slid up Kylo's back, or his idea of Kylo's back, pale and wide, flatteringly muscled and shining with sweat; dark hair was wrapped tight in Hux's fist and he pulled to bare Kylo's neck, twisted to see his mouth fall open, in pain or pleasure or both. Hux’s thrusts rocked his body and his arms shook beneath him.

"You want - you want to fuck me," Kylo said distractedly.

"You didn't need the Force for that," Hux snorted, pressing his erection harder at Kylo's hip.

Kylo shoved Hux's shoulder back against the wall, and oh, Hux liked that despite himself. Leaning in to bring his lips to Hux's ear, Kylo pressed the advantage and took more. "You want it slow, slow and deep," he saw. "You want me to be... desperate for it, for your cock."

Hux squirmed delightfully, body and mind, embarrassed but wanting more at the same time. Kylo undid the front of Hux's uniform jacket, deft fingers of one hand and just a lick of the Force to keep it smooth, let Hux shrug it off before bearing him back again. They were of a height, more or less, but this close and with Hux just in his undershirt the difference in their builds was more obvious. Hux hadn't seen anything of Kylo's body beneath the robes but the undeniable size and strength excited him terribly, the thought of having all that beneath his hands, controlling it. Controlling Kylo. Kylo's anger flared and he held onto it, used it to strengthen the connection to Hux. It wasn't a surprise, not at all. Of course Hux would think of it that way, Hux with his narrow shoulders and his pale, delicate throat. Kylo passed his hands down over Hux's ribs, felt them through the shirt and the warm leather of his remaining glove, felt Hux shudder.  

At his temple the hair was soft, a tiny spot he missed with all the product, and his pulse beat hard and steady. Kylo rested fingertips there again, letting his palm fall to cradle Hux's face. He didn't need it, strictly, but the touch was like an anchor to Hux, a focus to strain toward while he couldn't work with the Force. Hux pressed his face into Kylo's hand - briefly thought,  _ kriff, the size of it _ \- and ran the images through his mind again. Kylo's back, his hair, his parted lips, his ass. The same sequence, though sloppier, and then it clicked, how Hux called it up. The familiarity, almost routine.

"You think about it," he realised. "You think about it a lot." Hux started, little jerk against Kylo's hands, but he could feel Kylo see it, feel some of his response, and it was too good to truly pull away from. "You touch yourself, and you think about how much better I'd feel, how I'd take it."

"Masturbation in the armed forces? Another stunning insight." Hux's tone was derisive but Kylo could see beyond that now. Memories were bleeding into the fantasy: Hux's own grip on himself, how he thought of Kylo pushing back against him. He was drawing on the remembered sensation of sliding into someone - after tonight, they would never substitute. Kylo would have their place in Hux's head.

"You did it last night," Kylo saw, and Hux's head fell back against the wall, a gasping, open-mouthed smile on his lips, his hands fisted at Kylo's waist while their hips still rocked together. Hux could feel enough through the layers of clothing to tell that Kylo was hard, and he was relishing it, relishing something particular about this that Kylo couldn't quite -  he carried on, coaxing Hux's mind further open, following the path of least resistance. 

"You got yourself off last night," he hissed into Hux's ear, the memory growing clearer as he spoke. Damp air and hot water. Hux in the shower, looking down at his cock pushing into his fist and picturing a firm ass instead, picturing Kylo. 

Dimly, it occurred to Kylo that this was a strange way to see someone naked for the first time, but it was too late to dwell on that. Was Hux generous to himself in his recollections, he wondered. This wasn't some prepared slideshow, not anymore, but the mind wasn't always reliable. It autocorrected, soothed vanity or amplified fears, torn between its own best or worst instincts. He could find out the truth very easily, seemed set to, but there was something about seeing Hux this way, in this private moment … It was a shame Hux could not see his own face as he did it, that he could not recall the unguarded, undignified spasms of his face as he touched himself, that Kylo could not have those now.

Kylo bent his head to mouth at Hux's neck, felt his pulse and his thoughts race, his panting grow heavier. The memory stuttered, others mixing in. Hux kneeling, braced on his mattress as he thrust into his hand. Dark sheets tented over his bent knees, hot, musky scent of his body where he sweated beneath the bedclothes. The furtive press of his palm while he lay on his side, trying to be quiet, to be as still as he could, so none of the other boys would know -

Hux laughed, high and gasping, almost in panic. He hadn't expected that one, didn't know how to process the spike of mingled pleasure and shame. Kylo let him wrench it away, let Hux tug at his hair to bring him back up to look at him. Hux's cheeks were bright red, his eyes skittering around Kylo's face. Kylo waited, held himself back. He took gentle passes at more recent memories, brought Hux back to where he felt good, unequivocally: to the shower, the bed, both so close in these very quarters. Times he'd thought of Kylo, how he'd wanted this, and how he could have it now, all of it. 

Hux ran his thumb over Kylo's bottom lip, back and forth, and Kylo pushed his tongue out slow and soft, took just a taste. Hux laughed again, and it was low and relaxed, dirty. "Hells, but you're a pervert," he said, and it sounded like the highest praise. He slid his thumb into Kylo's mouth, watched his lips purse as he pulled it out. "You liked that? Finally getting to spy on me?"

"You liked letting me."

Hux kissed him, light and slow, and his mind tugged at Kylo again, unspoken invitation. This for that. Kylo returned the kiss, licked into Hux's mouth, took what was offered. 

"That's what you like," he saw, breaking away for seconds before Hux caught his mouth again. "My power, using it for this." 

That was what Hux was relishing, the thrill Kylo hadn't been able to parse before. This great cosmic power he was so excluded from: focusing it on himself, his body, bringing it down to this level. "For something so common, so filthy." Kylo bit down on Hux's lip and Hux whined, pulled Kylo closer. The arrogance of the man. He'd been shaken, a moment ago, had let Kylo see more than he wanted to show, but he still felt he was in control, that he was getting what he wanted. 

"So filthy," Kylo repeated, marveling at how Hux could be so embarrassed by this kind of talk and so desperately turned on by it at the same time. "And there's so much more of it. So much you've done, so much you want to do."

"And so much you want to see," Hux said, reaching into Kylo's robes and cupping his cock, grin widening as he took in Kylo's size. The sudden rush of his own feelings, neglected while he delved into Hux's, took Kylo's breath. He'd wanted into Hux's mind for so long, and in many ways the physicality of it had eluded him. He'd thought only of the pain he could cause - and he still could, knew well a welcome was no guard against that. Hux's conception of what he was doing was laughably simple, but he connected it to the physical effortlessly, instinctively, let the two flow while Kylo in his caution had not been able. 

Hux was stroking him through his clothes, and Kylo let himself feel it without distraction, without straining into Hux's mind. It had been so long, and he had not thought to miss this. The air between them was still thick with desire, heavy, and though Kylo gulped it down it did not seem like enough. He dropped his head to Hux's shoulder and Hux's thighs tensed, his hand pressing harder. 

"Come on now, Ren," he murmured, his tone smug. "Surely this isn't all it's going to take?"

Lifting his head was like surfacing from water, the sudden breath of anger sharp as much-needed oxygen. Kylo snatched Hux's hand from between his legs and pinned it to the wall, darted back into his mind: Hux cried out, his cheeks colouring like he'd been slapped. Kylo hadn't gone far, but it had been quick, and Hux had been unprepared. Still underestimating Kylo. 

"So impatient," Kylo said, and Hux laughed, just a stutter of breath but filled with hunger and wonder. 

"I am," he said, and Kylo felt the bones of his wrist shift as he clenched his fist, focused and thought of what he was impatient for. He was running hot now and it coursed through Kylo, a blur of all of his senses. Kylo wanted it, suddenly and strongly, wanted it with the same gnawing greed as he'd wanted Hux's mind. 

He released his hold and Hux slid out from between Kylo and the wall, their connection pulling Kylo after him like a tether. Hux never doubted that Kylo would follow, didn't look back as he strode into his bedroom.

Inside he turned and reached for Kylo without hesitation, kissed him with a confidence that required little from Kylo but pliant acceptance. Hux had never brought anyone here, Kylo saw, and he could not help the soft grunt of pleasure at that, a sound that had Hux shoving at his robes, pushing the loose outer layers off his shoulders. Kylo stopped him before he could delve beneath the last layer, caught his hands, and walked him backwards to his bed. Hux allowed it, though his frustration flared for a discordant second. He'd calculated the advantage of moving, however, lowered himself to the edge of the bed and brought his face level with Kylo's erection where it tented his trousers. The spike of arousal when Hux looked up at him expectantly was all Kylo's own, purely physical and distinct from the roiling sea of Hux's feelings.

He had thought to keep Hux waiting, to take back the initiative after Hux had brought them this far, but, pulling his undershirt off over his head, he felt frantic. Hux was leaning back on his elbows for a better view, while Kylo got rid of his boots as quickly as he could without fumbling, and beneath cool, appraising eyes he was urging Kylo on. He was biting his lip by the time Kylo pushed down his trousers, taking his underwear with them and stepping out of everything. 

Kylo straightened, and the wave of desire from Hux nearly set him rocking on his heels. Kylo's cock twitched, and Hux swallowed heavily, trying to maintain an outward calm. He still didn't appreciate how far his barriers had come down, how much Kylo could read that Hux didn't deliberately project. Kylo remembered feeling them falter when Hux had kissed him: what would it be like when Hux was further gone, was lost to pleasure? He could hardly imagine. 

"Turn around," Hux said, and it was rough at the edges. "Let's see how my likeness was." He thought of the fantasy again, the images almost cold and clinical compared to the raw matter beneath. Kylo did as he asked, and Hux liked that, his eyes crawling over Kylo heavy as a touch.

He liked what he saw, too, catalogued Kylo's muscle approvingly, half-remembrances of oil on canvas and carved marble flitting through his mind with his own imagined filth, as well as scenes from training and battle simulations Kylo did not realise Hux had watched. Hux admired his body the way he did the Force, flattered and excited to be wanted by something powerful, to have been pursued. Kylo felt his face heat. Hux's admiration was undeniably arousing, but it sparked momentary guilt. He had not thought of Hux that way, of his body or his touch, but when he turned back around he allowed it: took in the surprising fullness of his mouth and remembered how it had felt, thought of his delicate wrists and ribs beneath his hands. Hux was pale and luminous, his colouring unique in Kylo's experience, and with new eyes he did look good, especially now, so ready and inviting.

"Undress," he said, and felt how it pleased Hux.

Hux was brisk and efficient about it, predictably enough, though he folded every item neatly as he removed it and put it on a chair at the end of the bed. It was oddly enticing at the same time as it was frustrating, and Kylo gave in to the urge to touch himself as he watched, stroking his cock and thinking about Hux messy and unguarded, with these little facades of control stripped away. He was still so conscious of Kylo's attention, of constructing an image. Kylo wanted to see him as he was when he was alone.

"You won't kneel, then," Kylo observed. Hux had sat back down on the edge of the bed, his expectation obvious, and Kylo moved to stand between his spread legs. He expected a burst of irritation, but what Hux felt instead was an eager pride. He ran his hands high along Kylo's thighs, smirking up at him, not hiding his anticipation of an ache in his jaw and hot, tender lips. "Oh, so you're _good_ at it," Kylo said, running his thumb along Hux's bottom lip, pushing ever so slightly. Hux parted his lips, turned his head, but Kylo didn't let him take it. "Or at least you think you are." There was the irritation after all. "Let's see." 

Kylo slid his hand over Hux's jaw and up to cradle his head, pull him in, resting his thumb at his temple. Hux took Kylo into his mouth and his mind all at once, both of them groaning at the sensation. It wasn't what he planned for the evening but Hux had thought about this, too. He'd stuffed his fingers in his mouth while he stroked his cock, alone here at night, sucked desperately on them and worked his tongue and his lips like he did on Kylo now. He took him through his favourite tricks, and each one brought a flicker of memory - skin and sweat, 'fresher tile and rumpled sheets, grunts of approval and words of praise. Kylo jerked each time, bristled with jealousy, but it didn’t last. Hux quickly distracted him with other things: his confidence in his ability was not misplaced, and best of all he was so very present, in the moment, focused on Kylo. He read his body's reactions and responded, wanted to learn him. He was luxuriating in Kylo, the smell and taste of him, his presence in the Force.

Hux had a hand gripping Kylo's ass and the other between his legs, pressing behind his balls. He was making soft sounds Kylo could feel, in time with his movements, and it felt so good, his touch and the pleasure he took in it - and that he knew Kylo could sense it. Kylo still stroked his hair, hardly putting any pressure on his head, and their connection was so easy now, a smooth flow from Hux's mind to his. 

"Wait," he croaked, as Hux moved a hand down to his own cock with hardly a thought behind it. Hux had forgotten his prize, his plan, the sharp, urgent pleasure he felt overriding everything, but Kylo wasn't ready for it to be over. He pushed Hux back and held him by the chin, looked down at his red cheeks and wet, open mouth and reminded him, tugged at the fantasy and brought it back to the forefront. Hux's eyes fluttered closed and he groaned, leaning the weight of his head into Kylo's hand.

"Compose yourself," Kylo said, once his own voice was steady. Hux flashed a glare up at him, though he still practically vibrated with excitement, revelling in Kylo picking out what he'd created for him. "Come on, you must be prepared." 

Hux was, of course. Kylo’s cock was wet from his mouth and he stroked it as quickly as he dared, lying back on the bed while Hux fetched lubricant, thinking about whether Hux would like to take it. Whether his fantasy of bending Kylo over was rooted in a preference, or just how he thought he’d stay in control. Hux had experience, that much was clear - more than Kylo, and more recent. He was skilled with his mouth, certainly, perhaps with the rest of his body, and perhaps that was why Kylo acquiesced when Hux told him to turn over. He felt terribly exposed on all fours, discomfited by his own unthinking obedience, by Hux’s confidence being anything other than vexatious. It was the right decision, he told himself, the useful decision, to do as he was bid and make Hux feel he held the power.

“That's it,” Kylo said, as Hux pushed his legs wider apart. “Move me how it'll feel good.” Hux made a low, amused grunt of assent, running a hand up Kylo’s thigh, and Kylo heard him open the bottle. “Make it good, I know you know how.” Kylo had meant for it to sound mocking, or stern, or anything else, and his heart was racing - he reached out to Hux, his fresh surge of emotion, caught what he could and began to draw on a thread to regain his focus. Hux may have been more experienced, but Kylo offered him something nobody else could.

Hux’s pride was the path of least resistance, after he’d had his mouth on Kylo and after he’d heard Kylo’s - praise? Praise and desperation, that was what Hux thought, how could... Hux stroked  wet fingers from Kylo’s cock back to his ass, smooth and rhythmic, rubbed he thumb of his other hand so close to his hole, teasing at it. Kylo moaned, sank into the pleasure, used it with the anger. Hux felt him seeking the memory, and it wasn’t at all jarring to him anymore. He pressed his fingers more insistently, starting to push inside. He wanted very badly for Kylo to see, and that surprised what was left of the rational spectator in him. This was not his plan, this was dangerous, and he was right, but then he slipped his fingers inside, Kylo shuddered, and that was it. Hux let it go, and Kylo gasped, rocking back against his hand and grasping at the memory. 

The man was dark and pretty, kneeling up and straddling Hux, bare skin coloured by city lights, the flash of traffic and glow of neon. He was quiet as Hux touched him, three fingers inside and a hand around his cock; he was quiet and that was how Hux knew it was real, the self-conscious holofilm noises of earlier finally forgotten. Somewhere close there was music, the hum of voices, and closer still there was soft laughter, another man slouched at the far end of the sofa, half-dressed and watching them sleepily, drinking from a bottle.

Hux curled his fingers and Kylo cried out. It had been a long time, too long to have denied himself this. In the memory Hux pulled the man down into his lap, onto his cock. He waited until he settled before rolling his hips slowly and deliberately, and watched his mouth fall open. The kiss tasted like strong, sweet liquor and something Kylo couldn’t place but Hux chased hungrily, something that sent thrills through him as surely as the tight heat around his cock. 

“You didn’t even know his name,” Kylo saw. He looked back over his shoulder and Hux groaned at the sight, so close to what he wanted. He was shifting his hard cock up against the back of Kylo’s thigh and thrusting his fingers faster, pressed down to keep brushing that spot inside. 

“No,” Hux said. “I never asked.”

“You didn’t know his, but he knew yours,” Kylo continued, heedless of how rough his voice had become, and Hux gritted his teeth. “Your real name, and you shouldn’t have but you wanted to hear it - “

He wanted to hear it again. The memory shifted and Hux took his nameless partner over a heavy desk, a vast city spread out before him through a wall of transparisteel. Hux knew the third man was watching them, knew the man beneath him was having the time of his life, and there was just one more thing he wanted. He looked down and the man's cheek was pressed into the leather desk top. His sweaty hands skidded where he tried to brace himself, and he whispered it over and over - 

"Armitage," Kylo breathed.

"Fuck, yes," Hux hissed. He withdrew his fingers and put a hand on the small of Kylo's back, taking his cock in the other. There was nothing in his mind but how good it was going to feel, how Kylo was going to love it, until Kylo stopped him.

Kylo wanted to see Hux’s face and when he did, turning onto his back, it was wonderful. It was everything he’d wanted, utterly unmasked. Hux’s skin was flushed bright and his hair in disarray, fallen out of its style and longer than Kylo would have thought. His eyes were wide with shock, and his chest began to heave as he tried to lift his arms and the Force held them fast, pulled behind his back as if bound at the wrist. 

“Ren,” he gasped. His mind was a riot, but burning through the panic was desperate arousal. Kylo reached out with the Force, his own heart pounding like Hux’s, and felt how Hux trembled, how he strained toward the unseen caress Kylo trailed over him. Caution was a dim thing, far away when Hux’s rapture was close and immediate. Hux’s body glowed with sweat in the dim light, and Kylo admired all of him in that moment, wanted all of him, a sudden harmony. 

He brought Hux down to him, with the Force and then his hands when Hux was close. Hux knelt over him, face wild and strangely vulnerable, his hands braced above Kylo’s shoulders.

“Ren,” he said again when Kylo reached for his cock, and he was afraid, for all his pride or because of it, afraid he’d come as soon as he finally got inside.

“You won’t,” Kylo told him, and as he wrapped his fingers around Hux’s cock he applied a little pressure with the Force, until it felt right and he knew he’d found the spot. “Not until I want you to.” He pumped his fist roughly and Hux twitched with a spike of pleasure and panic, but as he realised what Kylo was doing he bit out a curse, thrust his hips again. 

"You want to?" Kylo asked, and oh, Hux wanted to, wanted to so badly he thought he would die if he didn't. Kylo had never felt so powerful. "Then beg me." 

He hadn't put the Force into it but Hux spat out the words before Ren had even finished, dropping his head and squeezing his eyes closed. "Kriff, Ren, _please_ \- 

Kylo stroked the head of Hux's cock against himself, trailed it wetly down to his ass, teasing at the rim. Hux gasped, and Kylo could feel him try to move, desperate to move. "Please what?" 

"Take it," Hux hissed, and the humiliation burned, lit him up. "Please, fuck, Ren, take my cock."

Kylo tilted his hips as he guided Hux in, loosening the restraining force slowly, letting himself feel every inch. Hux sank into him with relief, a new delirious pleasure rising behind it: the heat of it bloomed through Kylo as he drew Hux to him. 

"So good," Kylo told him, feeling an absurd need to reassure him, but it was, in itself, their bodies and minds so connected, intertwined. "You're doing so good."

"Don't," Hux groaned, flinching at the words even as they made his hips jerk convulsively, driving deeper into Kylo.  "Don't,"  - but Kylo was already there, in the memory Hux couldn't suppress - of the first time he'd done this, how he'd - 

"You were so careful," Kylo saw, with no little wonder. "So slow and careful, so determined to do it _right_." Hux was all the way in now, face pressed to Kylo's shoulder. Kylo held him with his hands and his thighs, wrapped around him with his whole body. Hux's first had been older, more experienced, and his patience had been excruciating. "But then you couldn't help it," Kylo whispered, and Hux's mouth was hot and open against Kylo's neck, gasping in silent horror and painful arousal, Kylo still holding him back from the edge. He'd had no such assistance, that first time, and he'd gone careening over it so quickly, overwhelmed and amazed and horrified all at once. Kylo saw the other man's indulgent smile. 

"Stop," Hux was saying, muffled into Kylo's neck, even as he kept rocking into Kylo, clenching his fists tighter in the sheets every time he bottomed out. Kylo ran his palms down Hux's sweaty back, slid them to grip his ass and press him to him, following his rhythm.

"Fuck, that's good," he sighed again, and Hux jerked again, strangled sound from between his gritted teeth. Hux hadn't believed it the first time, had felt so patronised, especially when the man had gently rebuffed Hux's dazed offers of some sort of reciprocation. 

"What the fuck is wrong with you," Hux whimpered. Kylo tangled a hand in Hux's hair but the soothing motion took Hux further back. He'd made excuses and dressed quickly, had left feeling humiliated, inadequate, and, stars, that was so wrong because he _was_ good, felt so good inside, touching Kylo like no one else had, and Kylo sent it to him before he could think better of it, the wild waves of pleasure he felt with every one of Hux's thrusts, how Hux's cock filled him up, how much better it all was than he'd imagined. He moaned, acknowledging it all, feeling it afresh. Hux gave a strangled cry, body flush against Kylo, arching his back as if he could get deeper still. He shook all over, his arms and shoulders where he held himself up, his thighs where they pressed against the inside of Kylo's, and his mind was a cacophony of agony and bliss that rang Kylo's head like a blow. 

_Please_ , Hux was thinking, dragging the word up with effort, nothing but harsh groans falling from his lips. His whole body was taut and straining, his head full of _hot_ and _close_ and _please, please, please_ \- He moved in erratic, rabbity little thrusts, barely controlled. 

Kylo let him go and Hux came with a broken sound, his rush of ecstasy taking Kylo with him. It was a blind white-noise pleasure, and there was no effort, no straining to see, no words or pictures, but he had never felt so connected, didn't have to push to know that they were together in the moment, trusted how their bodies understood it. 

Hux kept moving after the height of it, still twitching and groaning, his face wet against Kylo’s shoulder. Kylo held onto him, their chests shuddering together, and his thoughts came strobing back. Kylo’s hands, his thighs and the heat of his body, how Hux felt surrounded by him, taken in completely, consumed, wrung out. It was a dense tangle of feeling and they both gave up on unraveling it. Hux’s cock was softening and he eased his hips back and slipped out but he didn’t move off Kylo. He grew still and the connection receded like a slow tide. Kylo imagined he could feel it pulling away in waves, in the deepening rhythm of their breath; that he floated with it, adrift and uncaring.

Kylo didn’t need it to feel when Hux’s panic rose again. His heart kicked up and he stiffened in Kylo’s arms. Kylo rolled them over and Hux scrabbled away, turning to face the wall. His spine stood out where he curled in on himself, and Kylo felt suddenly cold, bereft. His stomach was wet and he rubbed at it with the sheet. There was a distant anger of some kind, aching in his chest like some fresh, deep bruise. Hux had enjoyed himself, he knew it for certain. He had _felt_ how good Hux had felt, how much he’d wanted it. He had not expected - he didn’t know what he had expected, but it was not this. Kylo tentatively reached out with the Force, and Hux sighed, a shuddering, full-body thing Kylo had no idea how to decipher. 

"Get out," Hux croaked, and when Kylo put a hand on his shoulder Hux let out a choked sound, rolled over and shoved at him weakly. "Get out, get out, get out." His hands clenched and unclenched against Kylo's chest, but when he gave up it was worse: he went limp against Kylo, bowed his head to his chest and hid his face, and whispered, “Please.”

It felt terrible to put clothes back on with his skin still filthy, but it would have felt worse to stay and use Hux’s ‘fresher while he lay there, watching him and feeling all the dreadful things he was feeling. Kylo sneaked sideways glances at Hux as he gathered up his things and dressed with shaking hands, and he wasn’t even trying to but he caught snatches of his thoughts - as if Hux’s mental barriers were so diminished, so _damaged_ , that he was broadcasting. The exhilaration buzzing through Kylo’s body was turning to panic, high-pitched and writhing beneath his skin. This was a mistake. This was all a mistake, and Kylo had known it. 

Hux was sitting up, covers drawn to his waist, hugging his knees and watching silently. His hair looked soft and silly in a way that made Kylo’s chest hurt again. Kylo could sense the smouldering coals of his lust, and something … small, exposed and cowering, something that felt pinned down in a bright white light. Despite it, Hux was still admiring Kylo’s body, remembering how it had felt, suddenly bitterly possessive of it. Hux was muddled, disconcerted, and he did not like it. 

Kylo’s mask was in the other room and he had half a mind to summon it with the Force, before he had to turn around and look at Hux. Hux sat up straighter, and though his eyes were red-rimmed he met Kylo’s. His lips parted as if he meant to speak but then he faltered, swallowed heavily. Kylo tried not to grab at the thoughts when they came, to throw himself at them in relief, throw himself at Hux’s mercy. He balled his hands into fists at his sides. 

It was clumsy, but Hux’s meaning was clear. Darkness, quiet, Hux laying his head down to sleep. Hux thought of standing on the bridge, walking the Finalizer’s corridors, sitting at his desk, in his quarters by the viewport, calm in pristine uniform. Alone.

  
  


Hux understood, then, well enough. He had seen Kylo and the Force for what they were, a glimpse of their darkness and savagery. He knew his danger, and before it was too late, though Kylo could take no credit for that. He had been reckless, lost in the twisted passion that seized him in Hux’s quarters, and he had put the Order at risk. He might have destroyed Hux’s mind for want of it, crushed it in his fist. And he had given so much away, of his power and desire. His ... loneliness. Kylo had taken something from Hux that night that he had not sought, but now he felt an absence, stretching back through the years and yawning ahead of him.

Kylo had duties to attend to, and acquired as many more as possible. He accompanied troops on scouting trips, took on missions that other Knights were well capable of handling. He scoured intelligence reports for any trace of Skywalker, chased down the barest hints. He slept little, and filled whole cycles aboard the Finalizer in training and meditation.

Kylo did his best to keep a distance from Hux, but it was like he carried the man around with him, his head full of stolen things he could not return. Hux plagued him, in terrible, lurid dreams. Kylo himself was not present in all of them, or was a frozen spectator, the memories of Hux’s past lovers that Kylo had helped himself to playing out before him - except now he could see Hux’s face, look at the scene from the outside. It was what he had wanted, after all, and he would have it again and again. When he woke up hard he allowed himself to take care of the matter, quickly, in the ‘fresher where the evidence would wash away, reasoning that self-denial in this had not served him well before. 

Worst of all, though, were the moments when he saw again, saw inside Hux’s mind, through his eyes. A warning stutter of his heart, like thunder before the lightning, then a flash. A screen full of data, assembled officers around a table, the durasteel ceiling of his quarters. The visions were cruel in their banality, showing Kylo the small details of Hux’s separate life, taunting him with an everyday intimacy and familiarity that Hux did not wish to give. He was sure Hux wasn’t deliberately sending them, but he did not know if Hux could feel them too, if he thought Kylo was still trying to torment him. 

In those moments Kylo’s composure deserted him, only trickling back when he stood in wreckage and smoke, saber humming in his hand and troopers fleeing. His shame still sitting heavily in his stomach. 

Hux summoned him eventually, as Kylo knew he would. Kylo had tried to stop, the glimpses of Hux and the resulting destruction, but either he was not strong enough or his suffering was the will of the Force. The Force offered him nothing of Hux as he made his way to his quarters. No anger, no fear. He expected both nonetheless, the only response to Kylo’s violations, his childishness. He craved Hux’s judgement, craved punishment.

Hux stood in front of his viewport, hands clasped behind his back, and if it was a deliberate recreation of their last meeting Kylo could not tell. Hux had allowed him entry but did not acknowledge him, and Kylo stood awkwardly at the edge of the room, reluctant to instigate, to stray uninvited further into Hux’s territory. 

Silence stretched on, and Kylo was about to raise his hands to his mask, as if removing it would somehow put Hux at ease, when Hux spoke.

“You manipulated me,” he said, still looking out at the stars.

“No - “ Kylo started, but it was hollow even to his own ears and Hux turned, his eyes piercing.

“You saw things I had no intention of showing you,” he said, and he was crossing the room toward Kylo. Kylo took a step back but Hux kept walking, backed him up against the door. “You took control of my body,” Hux continued, his voice lifting, brow creasing, and he took handfuls of Kylo’s robe, his eyes darting across the mask's visor as if to find Kylo's. “You - restrained me, you practically - _used_ me, for your pleasure.” He paused, gritting his teeth, and Kylo saw his throat move as he swallowed. “You frightened me.”

“I - “ Kylo began, with no idea what was to come after, his heart hammering and his throat feeling torn.

Hux closed his eyes, and Kylo could only watch, frozen and bewildered, as his shoulders sagged. Hux leaned in and pressed his forehead to the mask. 

“Do it again,” he whispered.

**Author's Note:**

> Dub-con notes: Hux interprets Kylo's efforts to sneak into his mind with the Force as sexual advances, and presents him with sexual mental images he has prepared. As the encounter progresses Kylo pushes his mental boundaries, while aware Hux doesn't fully understand the extent of his powers. During sex Hux repeatedly tells Kylo to stop looking at a particular humiliating memory and Kylo does not, though Hux remains enthusiastically consenting to all physical activity. Afterwards, Hux feels violated by that element of the experience. At one point Kylo uses the Force to briefly physically restrain Hux, without any prior discussion, though Hux does enjoy it.
> 
> (Do let me know if you think this fic is undertagged, I was a little unsure of how to reflect this content in the tags.)


End file.
